STAFF

DAVIN AGATEP
Program Associate
Telephone: (415) 863-0814 x 125
Email: dagatep [at] caamedia [dot] org

 

CHERIE COLMENARES
Development Associate
Telephone: (415) 863-0814 x 114
Email: ccolmenares [at] caamedia [dot] org

 

Cherie Colmenares is the Development Associate at the Center for Asian American Media. She is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, and holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Prior to joining CAAM, Cherie worked at nonprofit organizations in Boston and San Francisco. Outside of work Cherie enjoys hiking and tinkering with her collection of manual typewriters.

MICHAEL KWAN
Digital & Interactive Media Manager
Telephone: (415) 863-0814 x 127
Email: mkwan [at] caamedia [dot] org

KAR YIN THAM
Associate Director
Telephone: (415) 863-0814 x117
Email: karyin [at] caamedia [dot] org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

DIPTI GHOSH
Board Chair
Dipti Ghosh is Senior Vice President – Investments at the Ghosh Financial Group of Wells Fargo Advisors in San Francisco. She has been in the financial services industry since 1986 and has also spent time as a fund development coordinator at Asian Women’s Shelter. She currently serves on the investment committee of Horizons Foundation. She has also been a past board chair of The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and Trikone a South Asian LGBT organization, and was the recipient of the Phoenix Award from APIQWTC in 2007 and Trikone’s Pink Peacock Award for service to the South Asian LGBT community. When not advising clients on their investments, or fulfilling community obligations, she spends time discovering the greater bay area on her bicycle and traveling with her partner Meggy of 16 years, and of course, taking time off to watch the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

DAVID LEI 

Vice Chair
David Lei worked as social worker in San Francisco’s Chinatown with at-risk youths before starting his business in 1981 specializing in exporting consumer products to Mexico. He sold his business in 2005 and retired at the end of 2006. David has a passion for building communities, social changes/improvements, youth education and the arts so he actively participates with following non profit organizations: The Chinese Performing Arts Foundation, Asian Art Museum, The Chinese American Community Fund, Chung Ngai Dance Troupe, Academy of Chinese Performing Arts, World Arts West – San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, Berkeley China Initiative – University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library, and the Asian Chefs Association. David has been married for 37 years with one grown daughter. He attended public schools in San Francisco and graduated from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in Business Administration.

JOHNNIE D. GILES
Secretary
Johnnie D. Giles is Executive Director of External Affairs for Comcast Corporation and Vice President of External Affairs for Comcast Cable. He serves on the California Cable Television Association Law and Public Policy Committee, and is associated with National Association of Minorities in Cable, APAPA, and Vision New America. He started his career at the Chronicle Publishing Company helping the firm double its size in just over 4 years. He then worked in Chronicle’s Cable Television division and held numerous positions before returning to Chronicle’s Corporate office with a particular interest in emerging technologies. During the late 90’s Johnnie took a break from the telecommunications industry and worked at Age Wave Inc., a start-up incubator with an initial investment fund of more than $250M, where he served as the VP of Administration before becoming a partner at, Blacksquare, LLC in 2000. Johnnie graduated from UC Berkeley and received his M.B.A. at Pepperdine University.

ROGER KUO
Treasurer
Roger Kuo is Vice President of Dodge & Cox Funds and a member of the International Investment Policy Committee. He received his B.A. degree from Harvard College (magna cum laude) in 1993 and his M.B.A. degree in 1998 from the Harvard Business School. Prior to graduate school, he worked at Bear Stearns as a financial analyst. He joined Dodge & Cox in 1998.

CHRISTINE CHEN
Board Member
Christine Chen is the current Executive Director at APIA vote, where she served as the founding executive director from 2006-2008. She also serves as President of Strategic Alliances USA, a consulting firm specializing in coalition building, institutional development, and partnerships among government agencies, and the corporate, nonprofit and public sectors. Profiled by Newsweek magazine in 2001 as one of 15 women who will shape America’s new century, Chen served from from 2001 to 2005 as national executive director of the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), one of the leading APIA civil rights organizations in the country. Chen also was a member of the executive committee of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. She also served on numerous boards such as the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, Demos Board of Trustees, Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership (CAPAL), Youth Vote, Gates Millennium Scholarship Advisory Council, advisory board for the Progressive Majority Racial Justice Campaign, and the Board of Advisors for the Midwest Asian American Students Union, East Coast Asian American Students Union, and the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association. In 2003, she was a founding member of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund. Chen currently serves on the Kennedy Center Community Advisory Board, Center for Asian American Media, OCA Northern Virginia Chapter, and the advisory boards for the Asian Pacific American Medical Students Association (APAMSA), and CAPAL.

RANA CHO
Board Member
Rana Cho is a brand strategist with experience in high-tech, consumer, and business-to-business industries. She started and ran Gingerworks, a qualitative research agency, creating brand and consumer research strategies for such clients as Zynga, Clif Bar, and simplehuman. Prior to Gingerworks she managed UI/UX and content strategies for Electronic Arts and consumer product communications strategy and developer community relations for Palm. Currently she is a faculty member with California College of the Arts MBA in Design Strategy. She is a frequent guest lecturer on the topics of consumer research, holistic brand strategy, and interactive technology experiences. She resides and consults in Berkeley, where she also DJs at KALX 90.7 FM. Rana holds a dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Visual Arts and English Literature from Brown University, and a master’s degree in Korean Studies from Yonsei University.

KEN IKEDA
Board Member
Ken is Managing Director of Public Media Company (PMC), focused on a new national ownership, management, operating and technology platform to complement, strengthen and in some cases redesign local public media stations. Prior to joining PMC, Ken was Executive Director of the Bay Area Video Coalition (BAVC), an organization devoted to “inspire social change by enabling the sharing of diverse stories through art, education and technology.” He led BAVC through more than 200% growth and was a co-architect of the public interest media and educational network, National Public Lightpath, launched the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies and developed the Digital Pathways program for thousands of Bay Area youth to move from digital media training to continued education and employment. His leadership efforts while at BAVC were recognized by the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius award” for organizations, now titled the Creative and Effective Institutions Award. He currently serves on a number of boards, The Working Group and Youth Speaks. Ken was founder and Executive Director of Youth Sounds, a community media and arts program to promote youth articulation, which eventually merged with BAVC in 2006. He completed his master’s degree in Education Anthropology at Stanford University and his undergraduate studies at Columbia University.

BILL IMADA
Board Member
Bill Imada is the chairman and chief executive officer of IW Group, Inc. (formerly Imada Wong Communications Group), a Los Angeles-based marketing communications company specializing in the Asian-Pacific American markets in the U.S. Bill has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, public relations, advertising and human resource development, and has served as a consultant to more than a dozen Fortune 500 companies. Bill currently serves on the boards of several non-profit and professional organizations, including Advertising Educational Foundation, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, Asian Business Association, Center for Asian American Media, the LAGRANT Foundation, and several others. He also serves in an advisory role for groups such as Asian Professional Exchange, Asian and Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, Asian American Justice Center, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, and the National Association of Asian American Professionals. Bill has a bachelor’s degree in business administration and is a graduate of the Coro Foundation’s leadership training program in public affairs. He is a graduate of the AMBEP Program at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

PHILOMENA KING
Board Member
Philomena King is the Managing Director of King & Co. Works of Art, which specializes in fine Chinese works of art dating back from 6000 B.C to the Qing Dynasty. Being the fourth generation is this industry has enabled her to see and experience Chinese art in a new light. She also has helped other non-profits in San Francisco such as One Heart Worldwide, which prevent the high rate of maternal and newborn deaths during childbirth in China, Mexico and Tibet. She also is a Board Member of World Arts West, which holds the annual SF Ethnic Dance Festival. Seeing art displayed in so many art forms truly shows San Francisco is one of the best places to grow up and giving future generations this opportunity is extremely wonderful.

KONRAD NG, PhD
Board Member
Konrad Ng, PhD., is the Director of the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program. Ng earned his PhD in political science from the University of Hawai‘i-Manoa (UHM), and MA from the Cultural, Social and Political Thought Program at the University of Victoria. Prior to his appointment at the Smithsonian, Ng was an assistant professor in the Academy for Creative Media (ACM) at the UHM.

SUSIE JIN PAK
Board Member
Susie Jin Pak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at St. John’s University where she teaches U.S. American History. Pak is a graduate of Cornell University (Ph.D., 2004; M.A. 1999) and Dartmouth College (BA, 1994). Pak has also worked in the field of documentary film, serving as the Director of Development and Outreach for ROJA Productions and as a consultant to the Ford Foundation. She is currently writing a book on the social and economic networks of investment bankers before the Second World War with a focus on the New York firm of J.P. Morgan & Co.

PARMILA RAMCHANDANI
Board Member
Parmila Ramchandani is the Vice President of Finance at Outrigger Media, Inc. Before that, she served as Chief Financial Officer at Gen Art Productions, Inc., and as the Head of Finance at Plum TV. She also held senior Finance positions at Rosie O’Donnell’s production company, KidRo Productions, Inc. and at Firelight Media, Inc. Firelight produced the 2004 Sundance Jury Prize winning documentary, “The Murder of Emmett Till.” She began her career at New Line Cinema in Business and Legal Affairs. She has been a proud member of the Center For Asian American Media’s board of directors for the last 5 years. She earned an MBA and an MA in Management from The Garvin School of International Management (Thunderbird).

ANN RUCKSTUHL
Board Member
Ann Sung Ruckstuhl is Vice President of Marketing at Symantec. She is a seasoned Silicon Valley entrepreneur and executive with diverse experience in enterprise software, on-line auction/marketplace, electronic payments, digital content management, networking, servers and microprocessors. Most recently, as Vice President of Marketing at Sybase, Ann was instrumental in re-positioning Sybase from a traditional database company to a leader in enterprise mobility in areas of data connectivity, embedded mobile database, device management, security, and mobile applications. Ann held pivotal roles with a number of high tech firms and start-ups including HP, The Content Group, Billpoint and eBay. As VP of Strategy at The Content Group, Ann drove many early-stage Web projects that enabled media conglomerates to digitize, archive, index, search, distribute, meter and monetize their IP-based content. In the late 1990’s, Ann was a part of the core team at Billpoint (later acquired by eBay) that pioneered on-line person-to-person payments — further democratizing the Internet by allowing anyone to buy, sell and pay each other efficiently. Ann moved to the US from Taiwan at the age of 15 and enjoys projects that allow her to bridge and foster collaboration between the US and Asia. Ann earned both an MBA and a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.

JEAN TSIEN
Board Member
Jean Tsien has been working in the field of documentary for over 25 years mainly as an Editor. She went to High School of Music and Art, the FAME school in New York City as an Art Major, then later studied film at NYU Film School. Jean’s editing debut Something Within Me won the triple Awards at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Her editing credits include the Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature, Scottsboro: An American Tragedy, the Peabody Award film MALCOLM X: MAKE IT PLAIN, directed by Orlando Bagwell, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing, directed by Barbara Kopple, and the Silverdocs Sterling award winner, Please Vote For Me. Recently she received a CINE Golden Eagle for Wo Ai Ni Mommy as a Consulting Producer. Jean has been serving as an Advisor for Sundance Institute Edit and Story Lab and a panelist for ITVS, POV and EditFestNY. Jean is a member of American Cinema Editors, an honorary society of motion picture editors.

FRANCE VIANA
Board Member
France Viana is a strategic marketing consultant for top brands and Fortune 100 companies with expertise in brand management, advertising and nonprofit marketing. She has led marketing campaigns for top brand names include Visa and AAA, and in Asia, for the Asian Development Bank and Philippine Airlines. A dedicated nonprofit contributor, she headed the marketing department of the San Francisco World Affairs Council, and co-founded the World Ecologists, which grew to be one of the largest Asian grassroots urban reforestation organizations, winning a UN “Global 500” award at the Rio Earth Summit. She is a painter, bird lover and claims to be able to bake Thirty Minute Brownies in twenty minutes.

MONA LISA YUCHENGCO
Board Member
Mona Lisa Yuchengco was the founder and former publisher of Filipinas Magazine, the only nationally circulated, glossy publication for and about Filipinos in America. She is also the founder and chair of Philippine International Aid, a non-profit organization that provides educational assistance to indigent children in the Philippines and in the San Francisco Bay Area. She used to be on the following non-profit boards: Asian Pacific Fund, Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc. (LEAP), USF’s Center for the Pacific Rim, Asia Society (Northern California), Seton Medical Foundation, among others. She has won numerous community leadership awards; the most recent include being named “Woman of the Year”, District 8 and “Asian Leadership Award” from Asian Business League.

MYONG LEIGH
Board Member
Myong Leigh is the Deputy Superintendent of Policy and Operations for the San Francisco Unified School District. Areas of responsibility under his supervision include policy development and implementation, business services, facilities, human resources, information technology, intergovernmental relations, and public engagement and communications. Myong’s work has focused in subject areas including financial planning and resource allocation, school site-based academic decision-making and budgeting, student assignment and desegregation, collective bargaining and labor relations, capital facilities planning, and transportation. He has also served as the Budget Director for the District of Columbia Public Schools and was a financial advisor to state and local governments on capital facilities financing and budgeting. Myong holds a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He serves on the board of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club and lives in San Francisco’s Mission district.

KATHY K. IM
Board Member
Kathy Im is Director of Media, Culture, and Special Initiatives of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is responsible for a domestic and international portfolio that includes the Foundation’s work in independent media, technology and its impact on users, and special initiatives. Prior to joining the Foundation, Kathy was a Fellow with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Previously, she worked at the Bank of America Foundation, the Polk Bros. Foundation, and the Field Foundation of Illinois. Kathy is a 2007 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, a civic program for Chicago leaders. She is also a board member of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and a co-founder of the Asian Giving Circle. Kathy earned her bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College and her master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago, where she was a founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago Policy Review.

LEGAL

PETER FRANCK, ESQ.
Intellectual Property & Contract counsel to CAAM